SALEM, Ore. – The Carroll College softball team found itself in a hole against the No. 15 team in the country Friday on the road at Corban University. Carroll trailed 8-6 entering the top of the seventh. The Saints needed runs, and they got them en route to the 10-8 Cascade Conference win over the Warriors.
Courtney Cloud walked to start the seventh, but a lineout by
Jaylin Kenney notched the first out of the inning.
Anna ApRoberts reached on a fielder's choice, but Cloud stayed alive on a throwing error from the third baseman.
Allison Bayer and
Ashley Davis recorded back-to-back doubles, Bayer's double scored Cloud and Davis' double scored ApRoberts and Bayer. Davis scored on a single from
Tianna Sell two batters later to give Carroll the 10-8 lead.
Allison Williams came in for relief in the sixth inning and earned the win after sitting down the Corban lineup in order in the bottom of the seventh.
The Saints were in control of the game early. Corban scored a single run in the bottom of the first, but Carroll answered in a big way in the third inning.
ApRoberts doubled to left field to score Brittney Smith to start the inning off. Bayer doubled in the next at-bat, scoring
Jaylin Kenney and ApRoberts. Three batters later, with runners on first and third, Sell knocked a three-run home run to left field, scoring Bayer and
Kendall Mooney. The rally gave Carroll a 6-1 lead. It would last until the sixth inning.
Corban scored one in the third, one in the fifth but came alive in the sixth, scoring five runs on three hits and two errors, giving the Warriors an 8-6 lead.
"What a gutsy performance by our team today," head coach
Aaron Jackson said. "We jump out to a big lead then give it up in the sixth. We could have laid down and died, but we fought and won it in dramatic fashion. I have asked my team to compete and let the results take care of themselves and that what we did today. It was a great day to be a Saint."
Sell was 2-4 with four RBIs, Bayer was 2-4 with three RBIs Davis was 2-4 with a pair of RBIs and Kenney was also 2-4. The Warriors have only given up 10 runs one other time this season, in a non-conference loss to NCAA DII St. Martin's.
"We gave ourselves a chance to win the series tomorrow so we feel like we are in a spot but we will still look to clean up some things tomorrow," Jackson said.
The Saints and Warriors close out the series tomorrow with games at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. local time.
